Description

1855 $20 Wass Molitor Twenty Dollar, Large Head AU53 NGC.
Variety unlisted in Kagin, believed unique. An exciting new
study on the 1855 Wass, Molitor & Co. Large Head twenty dollar
gold piece has revealed some important new facts about the issue,
one of the most elusive coins in the Territorial gold series with
only four examples extant. The most important finding of the recent
investigation is that the coin offered in this lot represents a
previously unidentified die variety of this rare issue. All known
examples of the 1855 Wass, Molitor & Co. Large Head twenty
dollar gold piece, identified as K-8 in Donald Kagin's Private
Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States, employ the same
obverse die. Until now, it was believed they all featured the same
reverse as well. Surprisingly, this coin exhibits the reverse of
the more available Wass, Molitor & Co. Small Head twenty dollar
piece, K-7. The two reverses are easily distinguished, as the K-7
reverse shows the eagle's left (facing) wingtip pointing to the R
in FRANCISCO, while the wingtip in the K-8 reverse points to the F.
This fact was first noticed by numismatic researcher Wayne Burt
while studying the image of the present coin on the Heritage
website. Further investigation by Burt, Saul Teichman, Stuart
Levine, and Heritage cataloger David Stone revealed that the other
three surviving Large Head coins all exhibit the K-8 reverse,
making the coin offered here the only known example of this newly
discovered Territorial gold variety. Ken Bressett informs us that
this discovery is under consideration and is a good candidate for
inclusion in future editions of the Guide Book.

Conventional wisdom acknowledges the existence of only three
examples of the 1855 Wass, Molitor Large Head $20, but the recent
study uncovered reliable images of four distinct specimens, all
listed in our roster below. One of the coins is included in the
National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, and
the present location of two other examples is uncertain. Both coins
were stolen in the 1960s and, although we believe they were
eventually recovered, they have not been publicly offered since.
Images of these coins are almost as difficult to locate as the
coins themselves. It was only the generosity of Dan Hamelberg, who
provided vital information from his extensive numismatic library,
that made this study possible.

The firm of Wass, Molitor & Co. was founded by two exiled
Hungarian patriots, Count Samuel C. Wass and Agoston P. Molitor.
They attended the prestigious School of Mines of Germany and
acquired much practical experience working in various Hungarian
mines before participating in their country's gallant, but futile,
attempt to win independence from Austria in 1848. Forced to flee
their homeland, Wass and Molitor were naturally drawn to the great
opportunities offered by the California Gold Rush of 1849. Wass
arrived in California in October 1850 and Molitor followed in 1851.
In October 1851, the two men founded an assaying office on
Montgomery Street, below Bush, in San Francisco, but soon moved to
a fireproof building on the corner of Merchant and Montgomery
Streets. Both men were expert craftsmen and Wass, Molitor & Co.
became one of the finest assaying firms in the area. The firm
established a reputation for honesty that was second-to-none, and
their practice of paying back depositors in 48 hours (rather than
the eight days required by the U.S. Assay Office) made them
extremely popular with a variety of clients, including express
company giant Adams & Co.

All private mints in the territory were closed in April 1851 by
order of the California Legislature. Only the U.S. Assay Office
continued to issue coinage, in the form of fifty dollar slugs that
were too large for many day-to-day transactions. The resulting
shortage of circulating coinage prompted Wass, Molitor & Co. to
start up a coining operation of their own. They first acquired dies
for coinage in 1851 and began issuing five dollar pieces on January
6, 1852. The five dollar coins were shown to include $5.04
intrinsic value in gold when turned in to the U.S. Assay office,
and some $7,000-$8,000 in five dollar pieces was issued daily by
the firm during this period. The company began issuing ten dollar
coins a week later. These coins were well-received and seemingly
met the local need for coinage for some time, as no 1853 or
1854-dated coins were issued. The opening of the U.S. branch mint
in San Francisco appeared to spell the end for Wass, Molitor
coinage, but one final chapter was still to come.

A shortage of parting acids, among other problems, caused the San
Francisco Mint to close at intermittent intervals during its first
few years of operations, and the facility was unable to meet the
needs of the regional economy on its own. During a particularly
desperate period in March 1855, local merchants and bankers
petitioned Wass, Molitor & Co. to resume private coinage to
alleviate the situation. The firm responded promptly, and issued
coins in ten, twenty, and fifty dollar denominations. The twenty
dollar coins included both the Large and Small Head designs we are
familiar with today. Wass, Molitor & Co. was dissolved shortly
after the distribution of these coins and Molitor left California
for London in 1856. Wass left for a time also, and his fortunes
declined in his absence, but he returned in late 1858, and soon
started a new assaying business with his son Stephen. Because of
their high intrinsic value, most Wass, Molitor & Co. coins were
turned in for recoinage at the San Francisco Mint and almost the
entire mintage of Large Head twenty dollar coins was destroyed at
an early date.

The early history of the present coin is unknown, but it surfaced
before any of the other specimens in our roster, in the collection
of O.P. Hayes, Esquire, of San Francisco, California. It moved from
there through the famous collections of DeWitt Smith and Virgil
Brand, and was a highlight of the fabulous collection of Belden
Roach by the early 1940s. When this coin sold in lot 298 of the
Belden Roach Collection (B. Max Mehl, 2/1944), Mehl summarized the
then-current knowledge about the rarity and history of the
piece:

"The Exceedingly Rare Wass Molitor & Co.
Twenty-Dollar Gold Piece WITH LARGE HEAD

"Lot no. 298

"1855, $20.00. Wass Molitor & Co. Obverse, very large
head, diadem inscribed W.M. & Co. Date below. Thirteen six
pointed stars. Reverse, small eagle, shield on breast, an olive
branch in its right talon and three arrows in its left. 900 THOUS.
On small scroll above. Legend SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA TWENTY DOL.
Milled edge. Fine to very fine. Of excessive rarity. Only three
specimens known to exist, one of which is in the Yale University
Numismatic Collection. Another is in the great Mid-West Collection
which will undoubtedly never come on the market in our lifetime.
And this one is the only one now available. The specimen in the
Mid-West Collection I sold some fifteen years ago for well over
$2,000.00. The specimen in the Yale Collection is from the Lawrence
Sale, 1929, where the coin brought &7,000.00. The specimen here
offered is the second best. One of the real great rarities of the
Pioneer Gold Series. When we consider the number of specimens known
to exist and the still smaller available, I consider this coin
equal in rarity to any Pioneer gold coin. It has a starting bid of
$2,000.00. This coin is originally from the great Virgil Brand
Collection of Chicago."

The coin sold for $2,000 to Frederic W. Geiss. The Mid-West
Collection Mehl referred to was the collection of Charles M.
Williams, an insurance company mogul from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Apparently, Mehl was not aware of the second example of this issue
in Virgil Brand's holdings, as it did not emerge from his estate
until 1951, eventually finding a home in the Smithsonian
Institution. The $7,000 price realized by the example in the
Lawrence sale was extremely high for any coin at the time. However,
it was only the second-highest price realized in the Lawrence sale,
following the Massachusetts and California $5 gold piece in lot
1384 that realized a staggering $7,900. Both of these prices broke
the record for any coin previously sold at auction, set by the
Brasher doubloon in the Stickney sale in 1907, a record that stood
for more than two decades. After Geiss sold his collection in 1947,
this coin was a centerpiece of the famous Carter Family Collection
until 1984. The January 1984 Stack's sale of the Carter Collection
was the last time this, or any other, Wass, Molitor & Co. Large
Head twenty dollar coin was publicly offered.

The present coin is the finest-certified example, and probably
challenges the Smithsonian coin for finest-known honors among the
Wass, Molitor & Co. Large Head twenty dollar pieces. Of course,
it is absolutely the finest-known specimen of this newly discovered
variety, as it is believed to be unique. The design elements
exhibit only light wear and retain much of their original design
detail. The pleasing orange-gold surfaces show a few russet
highlights, and traces of mint luster remain in sheltered areas.
This piece is lightly abraded for such a large gold coin. Prices
realized for some exceptional Territorial gold coins offered at
auction in the past year have approached, and even exceeded the $1
million mark, including the $1,072,000 realized by the magnificent
MS68 NGC example of the 1852 Humbert ten dollar in lot 4058 of the
Eric P. Newman Collection, Part I (Heritage, 4/2013). We expect
intense competition from advanced Territorial gold collectors when
this unique and historic issue crosses the auction block for the
first time in more than 30 years. Listed on page 390 of the 2014
Guide Book.